How to source for agile
So sourcing in agile means sourcing teams, not projects.
The need for proximity to the business, face to face interaction, long term stability of teams, IT more core to the business than before, and shorter delivery cycles, make in-sourcing a very suitable strategy.
On the other hand the large SI service providers have adopted agile and have developed deep skills at scale and strong assets by industry that are not easy to match. Leveraging one or a couple of large providers and committing them to success still remains a valid and viable option. This can range from “managed capacity with SLA” up to a mature partnership with significant skin in the game from the service provider.
Both in-sourcing and working with external partners are valid options. Your choice should depend on your company culture, your maturity and availability of relevant skills in the market.
The different sourcing collaboration models form a continuum, ranging from full in-sourcing up to external sourcing with varying degrees of accountability:
- Insourcing: Insourcing, optionally with some staff augmentation
- Managed team capacity: Mixed teams internals/externals, but with preferred providers on SLA based contracts
- Strategic Partnership: Mixed teams internals/externals, in a long term deep strategic relationship with the service provider, sharing in the pains/gains for achieving success.
Mixed teams internals/externals, in a long term deep strategic relationship with the service provider, sharing in the pains/gains for achieving success.
